{
  "status": "research",
  "advantages": [],
  "limitations": [],
  "supersedes": [],
  "supersededBy": [],
  "firstSeen": null,
  "lastSeen": null,
  "updated": "2026-10-17",
  "slug": "virtual-executable-archive",
  "term": "Virtual eXecutable Archive",
  "aliases": [
    "VXA (archive architecture)"
  ],
  "definition": "A Virtual eXecutable Archive packages decoding programs with encoded content for execution in a specified virtual environment.",
  "note": "The FAST 2005 prototype used restricted x86-32 decoders. Its goal was future access to compressed information, not preservation of every application's semantics. [vxa-paper]",
  "related": [
    "compression-dictionary",
    "restore-test",
    "cold-archive"
  ],
  "citations": [
    {
      "id": "vxa-paper",
      "title": "Bryan Ford: VXA: A Virtual Architecture for Durable Compressed Archives, FAST 2005, sections 2 and 5",
      "url": "https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/fast05/tech/full_papers/ford/ford_html/",
      "accessed": "2026-10-17"
    },
    {
      "id": "hesela-zstd",
      "title": "Hesela: Compressed archives, dictionary dependencies and validation coverage",
      "url": "https://hesela.com/analyses/compressed-archives-dictionary-dependencies/",
      "accessed": "2026-10-17"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": [
    "Historical architecture, not a current security endorsement; the linked Zstandard experiment is not a replication of VXA."
  ]
}